Christmassy Coconut Mini Cheesecakes

Christmas finally arrived in my humble abode last week, which inspired me to get a bit festive with this month’s cheesecake recipe! The x-mas party season has quickly snuck upon us and I thought these mini coconut Christmas tree cheesecakes were perfect to make any Christmas party spread POP.

I recently stumbled across JustaTaste‘s Instagram account and her chocolate cupcakes influced me to decorate my mini festive cheesecakes in a similar way. However, I replaced pretzel sticks (that she used for the tree stump) with honeycomb matchmakers as a sweet alternative. For the christmas tree I used dark green candy melts, you can purchase them from either Hobbycraft or Lakeland (or probably Amazon). Don’t be put off by their vibrant colour, they taste like very sweet white choccy.

This recipe makes 10-12 mini coconut cheesecakes, I used my mini loose bottom cake tin from Lakeland. If you don’t own one of these (genius) tins you can use a normal muffin tin, make sure you line it appropriately for easy removal. You will also require a large lined baking tray and piping bag when making your mini Christmas trees.

Ingredients

For base:

9 chocolate chip cookies

2 tbsp of unsalted butter, melted

For filling:

100 grams of soft cheese

3 tbsp of icing sugar

1 tsp of vanilla extract

150 ml of double cream, chilled

1 can of full fat coconut milk, chilled in fridge over night

For decoration:

100 grams of dark green candy melts

10-12 honeycomb matchmakers

1 pot of sprinkles

1 bag of baked coconut chips or grated coconut

Method

Step 1: Place the cookies in a large mixing bowl or zip lock bag, and crush into a fine crumb, using the end of a rolling pin. Similarly use a food processor (I used my new kitchen aid tool), and blitz the cookies until there are no big chunks left. Next add the melted butter to the cookie crumb, and mix until thoroughly combined.

Using a teaspoon, evenly distribute the buttery cookie mix between 10 moulds. Use the back of a teaspoon or press to gently pack the biscuit mix down. Then set the tray in the fridge to cool, whilst you make the cheesy coconut filling.

Step 2: Remove your coconut milk from the fridge (do not shake it). Once you have carefully opened the can, scoop out the thick coconut cream that has seperated to the top of the can, and place in a large mixing bowl. *Make sure you don’t scoop out any of the coconut water that has separated to the bottom of the can.* Into the same bowl as the coconut cream, add your chilled double cream. Using an electric whisk, whip the coconut and double cream until it forms soft peaks.

Step 3: In a different bowl, add the soft cheese, vanilla extract, and icing sugar. Beat the mixture together. Then pour the vanilla cream cheese mix into the whipped coconut cream and fold together until the mixes are thoroughly combined.

Step 4: Remove the tray from the fridge and evenly distribute the coconut mix between each of the moulds. Then set the tray back in fridge whilst you make the candy melt Christmas trees.

Step 5: Now the fun part! You will need a couple of lined baking trays, a piping bag, honeycomb match makers, a sharp knife, dark green candy melts and last but not least SPRINKLES!

First, you need to chop a bit off the end of each of the 10 matchmakers, then place them onto a lined baking tray. Next, place your candy melts into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute or until completely melted. Pour the candy melts into a piping bag and snip off the end.

Then, simply zig zag back and forth over part of the matchmaker with the candy melt and sprinkle some sprinkles on straight after, as the candy melts set quickly. Once they are all done pop your baking trays in the fridge for five minutes, then remove them and the mini cheesecakes, pop one of them into the centre of each little cheesecakes. cheesecake. As a finishing touch sprinkle some coconut on top of the cheesecake.

I hope you and your guests enjoy these fun festive cheesecakes, make sure you let me know how you get on.